Otherworlder Battle Tournament

[indigo_league]

Welcome to the Otherworlder Battle Tournament

This is where you'll be submitting your strategies for the Otherworlder Battle Tournament. Please only submit strategies here. If you have any questions, direct them to our Tournament FAQ.


A small reminder of the rules

You will start the battle with the pokemon you put in first place on your submission form. You may only use one held item. If the item is consumable, you may replace it with the same item between matches. There will be no item usage during these battles -- any healing done must come from the pokemon themselves. You may only use moves from the pool you submitted earlier. Deviations from this may lead to a disqualification. Mega-stones are not permitted during this tournament. Your pokemon may also not evolve. If you do not submit your strategy before the deadline, your character will lose.

Initially, all comments on this post will be screened. Once a round has been completed, we will unscreen the strategy comments. Because the matches are not all happening at the same time, it is certainly possible for your character to watch other fights as they go down. As such, in later rounds, you are allowed to use information learned from earlier rounds i.e. if it is apparent in Round 1, that someone's pokemon has a certain ability, you may use that to build your strategy in a later round.

Comments

Re: Eijiro Kirishima VS Lupa

[papacerberus]

General battling strategy: Skoll is holding the Sitrus berry, just on account of being the most fragile of the three. He also uses words from his home magic system instead of actual attack names, and has taught his Pokemon what means what. Opponents with good memories and pattern recognition will probably realize that agi=fire, zio=electric, tera=earth and mudo=dark but Lupa has had to get creative so possibly not even a canonmate could get all of it just from watching a battle or two. He'll pull them into a quick huddle and demonstrate strategy with gestures and drawing on the ground before the battle.

Vs. Machoke
--Lupa's first instinct on seeing a fighting type sent out against Cerberus is "NOPE." Therefore, he gives the signal for her to Roar, and bring out one of the others. See the other entries for how he deals with one or the other that gets dragged out to fight her. Also Lupa will opt for Roar every time Kirishima sends Machoke in while Cerberus is on the field. He's willing to see who will last longer against such stubbornness (Kirishima, or the PP of Roar?). Since Double Team is the first move of choice against the other two, by the third round of Roar (after damage) -> Kirishima switches while Cerberus Double Team -> Roar Cerberus's Evasion will be ridiculous enough that the attacks coming before each Roar will hardly ever hit.

--When it comes actual time to fight Machoke, Skoll gets sent out and promptly Nuzzles for the paralyze, so that Machoke can't attack as often. Then it's time to Charm to further reduce the damage from the attacks that do land. And a Play Rough to do damage and hopefully reduce Machoke's attack even more. Whether or not it does, Lupa is pretty sure they can get more done over time with Skoll's affinity so Electric Terrain time! If Skoll is getting close to needing to eat his Sitrus Berry, he'll skip Charge and head right for Rising Voltage, but otherwise he'll Charge to power things up even more. If Skoll still isn't in the red zone for HP, Skoll will repeat the Charge and Rising Voltage, otherwise just Rising Voltage 2 more times. Last time just Rising Voltage. Hopefully by that point Machoke is down, but if not, Skoll will keep trying to repeat the process until he can't anymore.
----if Kirishima tries to put a stop to the electricity show (at any point, actually) by sending out Matsue, Skoll will totally Roar to NOPE that as long as there's another Pokemon to Roar out. If Machoke gets sent back because of it, see above. If Mochi the Miltank gets sent out, see below. If Kirishima tries to play the stubborn switch-in game with this one, well, Lupa is ready and willing to match him switch for Roar... until Kirishima gives up or Lupa thinks Kirishima will be most surprised: then it's Electrify instead of Roar, and a Crunch. In which case see how Lupa handles needing to use Skoll against Matsue in the descriptions below.

--If Skoll gets down into the red too far, Lupa will eventually withdraw him for Barong, even if he'd much rather not. Barong is sturdier against physical attacks than Cerberus. Barong will Sand Attack first, Cotton Guard himself, and then dig in with some Zen Headbutts. If Machoke is still getting a lot of heavy hits in even with paralyses, Charm and reduced accuracy, Barong will sneak a Baby-Doll Eyes in there.

--If it gets to the point that Lupa has to send Cerberus against Machoke, the match is probably already lost, unless Machoke is the very last of Kirishima's Pokemon standing. After a Double Team to hopefully last longer, Cerberus will take the risk of trying out her new Will-O-Wisp, and then Laser Focus Flamethrower for as long as she can. If Lupa thinks she's got a generous enough amount of HP to get away with it, he'll stick a Mud-Slap or two in there, because reduced accuracy never hurts. If it's down to a point where Machoke's next hit that lands will take her out, she'll put it all on the line with a hail mary Inferno (and if she's lucky it'll be right after a Laser Focus so that if it does hit, it crits).

Vs. Matsue the Palossand
--if brought out by Cerberus's Roar, Lupa's first reaction is almost to signal for another Roar. Because that looks an awful lot like an Ooze made of sand and ground types are also a bad match for Cerberus. On the other hand, 50% chance of ending up with the Machoke again. So Lupa will have her stick it out at least temporarily. Double Team for defense, then Will-O-Wisp second, because burns are always helpful and her other fire moves won't be very effective (Lupa thinks, at least). Then she'll Howl to raise her attack, and try Crunch! Well, it proves super effective, and has a bonus of a chance to lower Defense, so Cerberus will keep it up. After the first status move, Lupa is going to instruct Cerberus to start using Taunt (provided it wasn't a hypnosis that put her to sleep), because all of them will worry him.
----if Cerberus can't make it through, Lupa will send Barong in. Sand Attack and Sucker Punch, then switching to Grass Knot with some Bite thrown in there, especially when Barong runs out of PP for Sucker Punch. Lupa will consider Retaliate if Cerberus faints before Barong comes in, which... won't work, but will remind him about Barong's Odor Sleuth. Otherwise he might not even realize the ghost typing in this particular scenario unless it comes to a point where Barong needs to use Rest and/or gets hit by Hypnosis and then Snore does nothing.
-------if Barong does end up asleep, Skoll is sent in to use his strong jaw to Crunch in hopes of getting enough damage in quickly enough. Snore will work fine on the other two after all. (But there's also the option of Electric Terrain to wake Barong back up, depending on how Lupa thinks the battle is going)

--in other instances, Barong is sent out first, and will Sand Attack a couple times! A Cotton Guard will be thrown in there too. Then Grass Knot, because Lupa knows about that weakness of ground. If Barong is hurting even with the Sand Attacks... Lupa will signal him to Headbutt for the stronger move with flinch chance. Or if Barong needs Rest and/or gets hit with Hypnosis, it's time for Snore! Both of which will fail, oops. Hopefully Lupa's mistake about the ghost typing doesn't hurt his team too much. After that though, Lupa will spare a turn on Odor Sleuth (if Barong is awake), and then go back to Sucker Punch/Bite/Grass Knot if he can.
----if Barong is asleep and Skoll is still healthy enough, Lupa will send in Skoll for Crunch and Bite. Maybe an occasional Electrify if Lupa gets any forewarning at all on Kirishima calling for a ground move. If Skoll isn't high on HP though, Lupa has another trick he can use with sleep: Electric Terrain will prevent it and wake Barong back up when he's sent back in with it active (and keep Cerberus awake if she doesn't have enough breathing room to use Taunt to stop it that way)
------Cerberus is the last choice in this situation, but she also gets STAB on her dark moves, and so will Double Team, Taunt, and get to Crunch and Bite. She'll Laser Focus if she's got any breathing room HP-wise and will throw in a Howl likewise. Otherwise it's basically a race to see who faints to super effective attacks first...

Mochi the Miltank
--if brought out by Cerberus's Roar, Lupa is pleased to encounter a mon on this team that Cerberus isn't terribly weak to. Poor Lupa. Poor, poor Lupa. Anyway, he'll start out with signaling for Double Team, because avoiding hits is always the best defense. That may actually save Cerberus's tail. Because High Horsepower is gonna hurt and so will Rollout, although less at first. What move comes after Double Team depends on whether Kirishima shows his hand with all of Miltank's incredibly useful stat moves or goes right on offense. In the former Taunt! In the latter, Mud Slap, Will-O-Wisp, and hopefully enough of Cerberus's HP is left to go on offense with Flamethrower and Payback, Mud Slap thrown in from time to time to keep that accuracy as low as possible. In any case, Taunt will come into play eventually, after the first Milk Drink or Heal Bell if nothing else and Cerberus will pause in the Flamethrower and Payback to Mud Slap and Will-O-Wisp once the super effectives come out.
----in the (kinda likely) event that Cerberus can't finish it in this scenario, Skoll comes in to outspeed the cow! And to Nuzzle, Electric Terrain, and then to Charge and Rising Voltage. ...High Horsepower will also hurt Skoll like hell, but Lupa is hoping paralysis plus the accuracy reduction will delay the inevitable long enough. Only Cerberus having Taunt is gonna end up making this a battle of attrition though, especially with Heal Bell to keep poofing that paralysis.
------if the battle of attrition doesn't go in Skoll's favor, Barong will step in. He'll throw out a quick Charm first, but then go straight to Headbutt, because by now, Lupa has realized that preventing Mochi from using moves is about the only way to win this and flinch chance on top of (hopefully) paralysis might do it. He's also got Rest and Snore at the ready to give himself a second wind if necessary.

--in the case of Mochi getting sent out because of Skoll's Roar, well, Skoll will go right for Nuzzle, Electric Terrain (if not already up), Charge and Rising Voltage. There will be an interruption in the middle of that to probably Charm Mochi's attack down because High Horsepower is full of ow for the electric puppy. But yeah, Skoll will keep on refreshing Electric Terrain and using Charge and Rising Voltage. And re-applying Nuzzle every time Heal Bell happens.
----in the event of Skoll being first out and not being able to finish it, Lupa will send in Barong to Sand Attack a couple times, Baby-Doll-Eyes, Cotton Guard, and then start using Headbutt. Will it be enough? Did Kirishima teach Mochi any fighting moves that might wreck Barong if they hit? Who knows, but hopefully the Sand Attacks make that less of an issue.
------in this case, Cerberus is probably in not great shape because she's already tangled with Palossand. But if it's necessary, Cerberus will go in, spare a first turn Double Team, and then go for a Laser Focus + Flamethrower. Maybe a Payback if Mochi shakes off the paralysis with Heal Bell. After which Taunt gets added to the rotation of moves.

--in the situation that Mochi is coming in after another Mon fainted, well, it depends on whether she's second to last or last. If she's last, Lupa will stick with whoever fainted the last pokemon, and if needed, switch in the other with the most HP after that. If she's not, the order goes Skoll, Barong, Cerberus and it's pretty much exactly like above.
----If last mon standing vs Cerberus first: Double Team if it isn't maxed, Laser Focus and Payback/Flamethrower. Taunt will follow when Lupa knows more about Mochi's moves, and Mud Slap and Will-O-Wisp too.
------Barong second would be: Sand Attack a couple times, Baby-Doll-Eyes, Cotton Guard, and then start using Headbutt.
------Skoll third would be: Nuzzle (because Heal Bell), Electric Terrain, Charge, Rising Voltage.
----if Skoll is first, it's basically exactly like the scenario above.
----if Barong is first: Sand Attack, Cotton Guard, Headbutt. Then with some Baby-Doll-Eyes thrown in because of how powerful Miltank is. For the second/third, see directly above in this section.

[indigo_league]

This is one hell of a close fight, right up to the very last round. By the time it’s down to both trainers’ final Pokemon, the crowd is holding its collective breath as Kirishima’s Miltank faces off against Lupa’s Boltund… but when the (literal) dust clears, it’s Kirishima left standing. After a battle like that, though, Lupa and his hounds have no shortage of new fans literally howling from the stands.

Kirishima advances to the next round!